OMAR, as a Tanzanian and resident of Dar Salaam you understand very well the pain of terrorism. Were it not in your city and Nairobi that US embassies were bombed in 1998, killing 214 and wounding 4100? The bombings happening simultaneously in the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar Salaam had effectively brought terrorism on the frontiers where East Africa meets with the new world order. “Hi; Osama Bin Laden here!”In fact they did more than that. They brought you Osama Bin Laden and his colleague Ayman Al Zawahiri in 1998. The two were talking about the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, the possible break up of Sudan and the invasion of Somalia. Dustbin Laden was upset about all those things and so he decided to bomb the US embassies in protest. WHERE suicide bombings and bombings in general were expected to blow up London, Moscow, Madrid, New York, Kabul, Baghdad and add your cities; they were really not an African concern. When we were growing up the closest terrorism came to us was the Algerian Ninjas in the mid 90s. The ninjas were reputed to disappear “just like that,” other than those crazy ninjas we never had bombings. And terrorism was a thing like fashion. Happening in New York, Paris and London! And somehow it was a problem for those crazy Arabs with their beards, oh yes we also watched 24. And yet East Africa beat New York, Moscow, Madrid, London, Kabul and Baghdad in the bombing championships. Terrorism gets personalI would expect that you might have known some individuals that died in the Dar Salaam US Embassy bombings or even the horrendous one in Nairobi. They were regular people, who never cared for politics even. For you it is not just a talk of numbers and figures whenever terrorism is mentioned in the news. You have a personal experience with terrorism and like death, the thing becomes entirely different when it starts happening in your neighbourhood. Awkward conversationsYes, twice it happened in Nairobi and Dar Salaam but for me that was far away in the city. Then I moved to the city too.And that is when talking about terrorism became like a conversation about racism. Mysterious and awkward.The people that took much interest in it were crazy. Starting with the active participants-the suicide bombers -to others that make a living off it talking, and even fine people, they were all crazy. I never wanted to have a conversation with such people. Because there would be a lot of misunderstandings, so much sensitivities and awkwardness! It gets closer to homeAlright; this is when your sympathy is needed. Keziron was a good kid. He was a close friend to my best friend, Edongu Ronald, at the time. Ronald or Edro as he called himself was one of the brightest boys in the school; he was competing with Frank Mugisha another genius in economics by our standards. That outstanding class of 2001 in Katikamu Secondary School also included Muwanga William aka Keziron. Keziron was interesting in that he never spoke English. He protested the speaking of English as the lingua franca of the school and spoke exclusively Luganda as a sign of loyalty to his King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi of Buganda. It was always a paradox, if he did not speak English, how did he manage to write and think well in it? Keziron for all his protest against English was a fanatic of European football and his favourite club was Manchester United. That was one of the first and major things for which he was famous. He loved his king and Manchester United, period. The World Cup Final and 70 virgins in heavenKeziron was at Kyadondo Rugby Grounds on Sunday 11 July 2010 to watch the World Cup Final between Spain and Netherlands and was killed in the bomb blasts at halftime. Even the suicide bombers had to watch some football first before they blew up! As if the 70 virgins in heaven are not enough for him/her? Damn it! The bombs killed Keziron along with 73 other people.One of the things the news highlighted as the story evolved was that Al Shabab; a Somali religious and militant group of bearded men were happy with the efficiency and motive of the bombs and later admitted to carrying out the bombs. Omar, the suicide bombers are nowadays killing people you know. No longer a story you read about in the newspaper. It is a reality in your life. And suddenly George Bush was not crazy after all. Terrorism is the one thing whose conversation I would rather pass by. I just don’t understand what it is that is the crap with terrorism. And I don’t want to. What is it that is so hard to figure out really to stop this thing? How come we are talking advancement in technology and solving other problems. Even for poverty we have the MDGs. That sounds like a hardware application for an awesome video game but it is an important solution to poverty. Just think about it. What is the difference between PS3, Ibox360 and MDG? That’s evidence enough that we are working on poverty. That conversation we can have. It is also very easy to talk about charity, development aid, and millennium goals, NGO, HIV/Aids and more donor aid please!!!! But with terrorism people start talking of Israel, Jews, Arabs, Islam, oil, and; you can add your issue too! It becomes a conversation of extremes and passions. And then I ask myself; “What’s up with the Somalis really?” It is not just the Al Shabab that is f*%@ed up with them Somalis. They have not had much going on their way really. It is said that they, along with the Ethiopians were the only Africans that were never colonized. And look what they got? From Siad Barre they got Mohammed Farrah Aideed. You remember him? The one who brought you the famous BLACK HAWK DOWN series? The movie about 18 US soldiers who died when their chopper was brought down in Mogadishu in 1993, they had their bodies pulled throughout Mogadishu to the global shame of the US and Bill Clinton. Do you remember them choppers that also did the job in the Afghan and Iraq war where Saddam Hussein was deposed? Yes we saw his statue fall, didn’t we? But did you watch the Black Hawk Down?But yet I miss uncle George Bush. He was on the other side of the coin in the conversation about terrorism. He tried to tackle it practically other than be mouthing on it with declarations and what do they have there in Iran? Sanctions? Bush for all his weaknesses, I cannot blame him for setting the globe rolling in the fight against terrorism. The thing was there way before he became president and hell; he went for it. Omar; the big picture of Somalia was designed by President Bush and Ethiopia when they chased away the bearded zombies in 2008. Ethiopia at the time overrun Somalia, Installing a government appropriately named as Transitional Somalia Government or something awkward as TSG, like an application for a video game itself. The TSG like all applications was short-lived and was chased away by the Al Shabab. It is not clear what happened to them Islamic Court Union, the predecessors of TSG. It’s high time, a permanent solution to Somalia was reached. donuwagiwabo@gmail.com
